A quick conversation happened Wednesday morning on the internal chat we have at AL.com among Alabama beat writers and editors. It involved a trademark filed by Philadelphia 76er star Joel Embiid for “The Process.”

What about Nick Saban? He must have some claim to the phrase he helped popularize over his time coaching football, right? On a broader scope, what kind of trademarks or copyrights are associated with Alabama athletics and who owns them?

That led to a day buried in government databases searching for every possible connection to the Crimson Tide or Alabama sports. A few funny or interesting things turned up in that, well ... process.

First off, we could find no such trademarks connected to Nick Saban and anything involving “The Process.” It turns out there are a boat load of people who have some claim to those two words in some variation or another.

The Buffalo Bills in May 2018 applied for a trademark to “Respect the Process” for everything from cell phone covers, door mats and cornhole boards.

The 76ers also filed a trademark in September 2018 for “Trust the Process” for a list of products related to basketball and entertainment. A host of other businesses have some other piece of the process pie, but none with direct links to Alabama’s football coach.

The origins of Saban’s tie to the phrase dates back to a 1998 upset win for his Michigan State team over No. 1 Ohio State. MSU psychiatry professor Lionel Rosen had helped establish the mindset of focusing on the process over the outcome -- a talking point Saban’s driven home more than a few times in the 21 years since.

A number of other Saban-related trademarks have popped over the span of his time coaching in Tuscaloosa.

“I’m Saban all my love for ALABAMA,” was filed in November 2008 by an individual in Hoover and was abandoned less than a year later.

“In Saban we trust,” was filed by an apparel company in 2010 and abandoned in 2011.

And an individual in Louisiana filed perhaps the most colorful trademark application in 2007, not long after the former LSU coach took the Alabama job. It was abandoned in April 2008 and included the just the words (and improper spacing after periods):

“BEAT BAMA AND SABAN. SOOO EASY EVEN A COON-ASS CAN DO IT.BEAT BAMA AND SABAN.SOOO EASY EVEN A CAJUN CAN DO IT.”

Very specific.

Anyway, on the copyright side, two different rap songs were titled “Nick Saban.” One was by Julian LaHood in 2018 and the other by StevO Strapped in a 2014 song intended to be the “Alabama football anthem.”

The University of Alabama board of trustees own 151 copyrights since 1978, mostly dealing with academic works.

The university’s governing body also trademarked “Roll Tide” in 1985 after claiming its use since 1940. It has been renewed every 10 years as is required with all federal trademarks.

The school has also filed several lawsuits over the years when it felt another party infringed on the trademark and it appears to have prevailed in each case since all other applications for the phrase are listed as “dead” in the database.

In one such lawsuit filed in 2014, the university claimed licensed Alabama-related items had sales of more than $330 million over the previous five years. That suit involved the use of “RTR” on crimson and white hats and shirts. It was eventually settled out of court.

There are, however, 30 active trademarks including “RTR” not owned by Alabama. They date back to the 1980s and don’t include products that could be confused as university-related, which triggers the lawsuits

“You had me at Roll Tide” didn’t last a year from late 2017 through the fall of 2018. “Roll Tide or Roll Home” didn’t make it either from 2015-2016. “Ragin‘ Tide?” Nope. Terminated in 2017.

A few variations of “Crimson Tide” and logos were trademarked starting in 1985 by the UA Board of Trustees. The version used most commonly today -- with the script-A inside a dark circle containing “ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE” was filed in 2001.

Michael Casagrande is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.